


The Fairy's Daughter

by SKennaArbourBond



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Drama, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Love, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Sad, Slow Burn, True Love, falling in live
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:40:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27792436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SKennaArbourBond/pseuds/SKennaArbourBond
Summary: "You do realize that by giving yourself to me, you give me your powers to do with as I see fit. You understand, that it's forever dearie."I nodded. "Yes, I do. So, long as you understand that this kingdom will be protected for just as long."He extended his hand for me to take. "Then, dearie, I do believe that we have a deal."
Relationships: Rumpelstiltskin/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

To know my story, we must go back to the beginning. Though it gives great import, it is not happy. But then, aren't most stories told, begin with some grim introduction that will give us the hope that things will get better? I wish I could say that about my story. Unfortunately, I cannot. For you see, my story, though filled with such wonderful pleasures as adventure and love, does not have a happy ending. Even now, as I am held tightly within the grasp of the person I love most in the world, the ending is just a breath away, and we will be separated. I will have no recollection of him, or of the love we so passionately bore towards each other. There is, despite all great efforts, no hope.

I was born on a warm mid-summer's eve, and was christened Evelyn Dormier. My mother, Ember Dormier, was a woman who wielded great magical power. She fell in love with a mortal man, and he with her. Though my mother's heart was free as a bird, his heart already had a word stamped upon it: "taken." My father was betrothed to another woman, and for some strange reason my mother was fine with this. Even after she had given birth to me, and when father married that woman she was fine with it. I've never been able to imagine my father as an intelligent man, but I do give him credit for having kept us a secret until I had reached the age of ten years.

When his wife did find out about us and the fact that she was pregnant, she used every available option to keep my parents apart. I heard whispers that she even resorted to seeing the Dark One so that some sort of poison could be slipped to my mother in the dead of night. My mother begged and pleaded for father to leave his wife, but in the end, he left us…stranded and alone. My mother had sacrificed nearly everything for love, and all she had left now was me and her magic. She'd once been so good and used light magic. But when father left, her magic became twisted and dark. It ate her alive, and consumed her. One day, I came home from the village, and I found she had died.

That was when everything changed. That was when there was a small glimmer of hope on my horizon for I had only known misery for fifteen years. My father came for me. His wife had died in childbirth and my half-sister would need someone to grow up with her. Though part of me, and I didn't know how controlling that part was, hated me for what he did to me and my mother, I recognized the chance to leave. I saw the opportunity of never having to worry about where my next meal would come from. I grasped on to the knowledge that I, for at least a part of my life, could escape the chains of poverty and destitution.

So, I agreed. The home that I had shared with my mother was left behind, as well as all of the painful memories. I had little to bring with me as father said that I would be treated like family, so there was no need to worry about clothes or anything of that sort. All I brought was my mother's hand mirror, her book of spells, and a locket that I wore like a talisman.

"Never take it off, Evelyn," my mother had fervently whispered on my fifth birthday. "It will protect you from all evil, so long as there is someone alive who loves you."

It was another reason why I was so desperate to get away from the village. Living with my father would give me safety, so that I could not be harmed, now that the only person who loved me…was dead.  
As I stood in the great throne room of my father's castle, I clutched the locket, as if it would protect me from the unknown. My father had gone to go retrieve my little sister, who was only five years old. When he returned, I wished that I had been able to wipe away the dirt from my face, or at the very least change into something a bit more decent. My half-sister was dressed in a light blue dress that brought out her dark hair and blue eyes.

"Evelyn, I'd like for you to meet my daughter." Maurice's eyes led me to understand that there was to be no referring to this young girl as my sister. "Her name is Belle."


	2. Chapter One

**15 years later**

"Evelyn! Don't run so fast!" Belle yelled, as we ran in the tree filled forest. "I can't keep up!"

"You've been saying that for fifteen years, lil sis!" I laughed as I ran deeper into the woods, my skirts hiked up to my knees. "You're going to have to catch me one of these days!" When we reached the clearing I came to an immediate halt, stretched my arms out and turned my face up towards the welcoming sunlight. There was not a single cloud in the sky. It was one of those rare days where the Ogres seemed so far away, and nothing could touch the kingdom.

"Evelyn…" Belle gasped, coming to stop next to me. "You…have…too much…energy…"

I laughed and spun in a circle keeping my arms outstretched. "I feel as if I could run for miles and never stop." I collapsed on the sun-kissed earth and spread out.

"You'd run straight into the Ogres, sister," Belle whispered, sitting down next to me.

"I'd fight them all."

"You'd die!"

"Better than living with Father."

Belle was silent for she knew I was right. In the fifteen years I'd been here, Belle and I were never truly allowed to call each other sister. Belle wasn't even supposed to know we were related, but when she'd turned eleven, she wanted to know why things were so strained between me and the country knight, Maurice. She'd been thrilled to learn that she'd had a sister and had done a wonderful of not letting anyone know that she'd been told.

"He loves you, you know that right?"

"I've never even been allowed a proper seat at the table, Belle. Truth be told, I'm glad of it. I've still been able to be free. Well, apart from taking care of you, sister."

Belle laughed and it completely transformed her face. "I wish I could be as free as you, Evelyn. I fear my only destiny is to be a beautiful jewel on some man's arm and to bear him children."

"Gaston doesn't seem to have a problem with that," I teased, bringing up the highest ranking soldier in Sir Maurice's army.

"I want to go out and to see the world. I don't want to be forever caught in this place."

"Well, you turn eighteen tomorrow, Belle. You will be a lady who is allowed to make her own choices." I sat up and tucked my knees underneath my chin. My eyes widened as I was suddenly struck with an idea. "Let's run away together! Tomorrow night! After your party, and everyone has settled down for the night…" I stopped seeing as Belle was less than pleased with this idea. "What is it?"

"Father has sent off a letter to the Dark One, Evelyn."

My body stiffened. "What for?"

"We can't continue to fight the Ogres anymore without causing more destruction to our city. Papa has asked for help."

"Belle, that could go very bad for him. The Dark One, I've heard, asks for a price that is unbearable to pay."

"Father's offered to pay him in gold."

I snorted. "If the stories are to be believed, the Dark One makes gold. He spins it…from straw!"

"He'll ask for something…" Belle whispered, her eyes taking a great interest in the grass.

"Something Father will not want to pay."

"What could that be?" She looked back up at me and suddenly I knew. I knew what the fiend would ask for and it twisted my stomach. I couldn't let anything happen to my sister. I had grown to love her so very much and I didn't want her to be held captive by such a…person. I chewed on my lower lip and looked away, appearing to be thinking on the Dark One's price.

The bell from the monastery sounded and Belle stood up. "It's nearly dinner time! We need to go get changed!"

"You go," I whispered, resolve coursing through my veins. "Sarah will be there to help you change and I'm not hungry." Belle waved goodbye saying that she'd see me before bed and I returned her wave, not sure if I would see her at bed time. I toyed with what I would say in my head before standing up. I took a few minutes to make sure that no one was around or could hear me. Confident I was alone I closed my eyes and whispered a single world.

"Rumplestiltskin."

Nothing happened and I was instantly discouraged. What could have prevented him from coming? The stories say that he appears only to those who are desperately in need of help. And I, was both desperate and in need of help. I sat down in the grass, and tucked my legs underneath me. I was determined to wait for him, no matter how long he took and, knowing that I was alone for a time, I decided to practice my magic. Without a true and experienced teacher for more than half my life, all I had learned were the things I'd read in my mother's book. It was nothing very powerful, but it was enough to make me feel as if I hadn't ever truly lost her. The darkness, thankfully, had claimed quickly. But the light…the light of the fairies that she practiced was what I had always latched on to.

It was very simple, raising my hands up to the white blossom tree. A slight curl of my fingers and the blossoms fell from their branches and danced around me. For a moment, there was a smile on my face as I felt calm and peaceful. There was no sister to look after here, no messages to deliver…I belonged to no one but to the imaginations of my mind. The blossoms danced above my head, shielding me from the last remnants of the sunlit sky.

"Very pretty, dearie," a voice called out, interrupting my reverie.

The magic broken, my concentration lost, the blossoms fell upon me showering me with their delicate petals. I hastily stood up, trying to shake off flowers. I looked around me, trying to see where the voice had come from.

"Who's there?" I asked, hesitantly.

"You should know, dearie. You summoned me."

I turned slowly as the voice was now coming from behind me. "Rumplestiltskin," I whispered. I had no idea what sort of a vision of a person I'd expected, so I was not quite fully prepared for him. The tales had spun some sort of story that made him seem like a beast...an animal. I hadn't expected him to look so...human. Apart from the gray skin, black talon-like nails, and dark amber eyes...he looked like a man.

He bowed and I took a hesitant step back. "The one and the same. Now…why have you called me?"

I tilted my head. "Surely you must know, being so powerful and great as you are."

"Flattery will get you know where, dearie." He smiled sinisterly. "But, yes I do know. Though I would like to hear what you have to say just the same."

I tried to pull my thoughts together hastily. "My father…that is to say…Sir Maurice has sent you a letter asking for your help in the Ogre Wars. He's offered you riches to pay for your services. But I, believing a bit more of the stories than should probably be wise, know that you won't name such a commodity as jewels and gold for your price."

He gave a quirk of a laugh that I almost smiled. "Very perceptive, dearie. So, are you presuming that you know what I would ask for?"

I chewed on my lower lip, weighing my next words. "You would most likely ask for something far more precious and valuable to Sir Maurice. You would ask for my sister, Belle."

He walked towards me, his eyes narrowed as a grin broke out over his face. I couldn't help but notice his walk which made me think more of a child than a man who had lived for centuries.

"And why wouldn't I ask for you seeing as you the older daughter?" He walked around me looking me over as if trying to figure out why Sir Maurice would rather his younger daughter not be taken instead of the elder.

"Because it is not known, at least verbally, in this kingdom that I am his daughter."

"A little unfaithful Father was he, dearie?"

I sneered at him. "I have no love for the man who bears that title, but yes. I, however, have come to love my sister and do not want her to suffer a captive fate. I've lived that life for fifteen years and I want better for her."

"So…you're offering...?"

"Myself as an exchange." The words tumbled from my mouth before I could even think about them. But I knew it was the logical answer.

"And what would I want with a bastard child when I could have the legitimate heir?" His face got ever closer to mine and I tried not to look away. "You're wasting my time, dearie. I will have his daughter, and you shall have to live with the consequences." He turned and walked away waving his hand but not looking at me.

I licked my lips and toyed with the locket around my neck. "Because my mother was Ember Dormier." I had not mentioned her name in fifteen years for fear of what would become of me. But that piece of information, proved valuable to Rumpelstiltskin. He stopped, and turned on his heel, a vicious smile on his face.

"You're a fairy daughter…" He pointed his fingers at me and I swallowed.

"Yes, I am." I nodded.

"You do realize that by giving yourself to me, you give me your powers to do with as I see fit. You understand, that it's forever dearie."

I nodded. "Yes, I do. So, long as you understand that this kingdom and all those in it will be protected for just as long."

He extended his hand for me to take. "Then, dearie, I do believe that we have a deal."

I took his hand and the deal was struck.

"I'll still make my usual visit tomorrow and claim you for my price. So, you better be prepared!" He gave another nyah of a laugh and in a puff of purple and black clouds he was gone.

My knees instantly gave out and I crumpled to the ground. The weight of my decision finally pressed down on me and I felt tears fill my eyes and then fall down my cheeks. I would never see my sister again. I would never be able to come to this spot and to steal away a few precious moments and be close to my mother. My powers, how very limited they were, would no longer be mine. I wouldn't be able to use them as I wanted anymore.

I was there on the grass crying until the sky had grown completely dark. I knew that I had to go in for Belle would grow worried about me. Tomorrow was her birthday, and with the last little bit of time I had left, I would spend it with her. Slowly, I stood up and wiped the remnants of tears off my face. I made my way back to the castle and went up to the room I shared with Belle.

"Evelyn where have you been?" Belle asked, sitting up in bed.

"I've been out in the clearing, Belle," I responded, untying the laces of my leather corset. "I fell asleep and lost track of time." I had never lied to her before, and I hoped she would forgive me. I took off my dress and replaced it with a nightgown. Taking down my hair from its pins, I sat down on the edge of the bed and began running a brush through my light brown hair.

"Really?"

I averted my eyes appearing to be very intent on my hair. "Really, Belle. It was so warm outside and I just couldn't help it."

"You've been working on my birthday present, haven't you?" She drew up her knees and peered at me with her blue eyes. "Admit it."

I smiled. "In a way, yes, I was working on your birthday present."

"Alright, well, if you're going to be secretive about it, I'll just go to bed." She smiled and lay down on her bed. I waited until she was fast asleep before I went to the window to look on the dark city for the last time. The next twenty four hours would be filled with "lasts" and each one was precious.


End file.
